Starbucks serves up big cup of intolerance
So there was poor Kevin Johnson, trying to put a shine on a sneaker by reverentially quoting Thomas Jefferson’s reminder that “the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”
Well, yes, that’s true enough, but what it has to do with asking six cops — who paid for their coffee, by the way — to leave a Starbucks is anyone’s guess.
Truth be told, he had nowhere else to hide.
As CEO of the sprawling chain it fell to him to formally address the outrageous eviction of those officers whose presence supposedly annoyed a customer at a shop in Tempe, Ariz.
Usually, the presence of police makes a place feel more secure, but these are not usual times.
Cops are punching bags until they’re needed, and then they can’t respond fast enough.
A local community had a decision to make at its town meeting. One of its cops, responding to a breaking and entering call, sped to the rescue, only to have his cruiser skid on fallen leaves, resulting in injuries.
The question was, did he deserve disability consideration?
Who could argue against it? Many did.
We’re closing in on a time when cops must die on the job to be seen as the good guys.
A few years back, while rioters were burning and looting much of downtown Ferguson, Mo., a frantic shopkeeper, watching his business go up in flames, hollered into a CNN camera: “Where are the police?”
The answer was they were a block away, being spat upon by a mob.
It’s simple: Bad apples notwithstanding, cops are not the bad guys.
Here’s a question someone ought to lob at New York Mayor Bill de Blasio in round two of the Democratic debates: “If elected, would you warn this nation’s kids to be wary of police, the way you told your son Dante not to trust them?”
Meanwhile, back at Starbucks, executive VP Rosann Williams rushed to assure those banished cops, “We’re taking necessary steps to assure this doesn’t happen again,” which sounds a lot like what Starbucks said a year ago when it closed 8,000 of its stores for a day of anti-bias training after two black customers were arrested because of racial profiling.
As for Johnson, before further quoting Jefferson, he might want to remember our third president is rapidly becoming persona non grata at the loud insistence of still more airheads like the one in Tempe.
He’ll drive himself nuts trying to appease them all.
So here’s a suggestion: Take a sip of Dunkin’ and chill out.